14 Months Old

My sweet, little, not-so-sweet, big boy Nathan.  I apologize for not writing an entry for you at 13 months.  The month passed by so quick, and I just lost the desire to do it.  So, here we are, two months after your first birthday.  Here we go...

You definitely add a new dynamic to our family :).  You can be the sweetest boy on the planet, giving non-stop open-mouthed slobbery kisses to your brother, your sister, your Grandma, or myself.  But...you can also be the meanest boy, hitting those around you.  You have attitude, Nathan.  You like to hit others, for no reason...but not all the time.  Some times you are fine, playing nicely with your siblings.  Other times, you stand beside them and start hitting them, a smile on your face.  You're lucky that they are very tolerant, just standing there accepting the abuse...but I see that tolerance fading.  You seem to think it's a game, hitting them to get a reaction.  It was cute a month ago, but now it is not.  Putting you in time-out on the bottom step of our staircase for one minute works, sometimes.  Other times, as soon as you hear the warning, "Do you want to go to time out?", you nod your head and walk yourself over to the step and sit down.  It's so cute.  But at the same time it's oh-so-frustrating.  When you aren't emotionally hurt by time outs, then I switch up my approach and remove you semi-roughly from where you are standing and sit you on the ground a few feet away.  Your feelings get hurt more often with that approach...but it's still not preferred.  I'm trying to figure out a way to get through to you that hitting is not nice.  You like to hit me when you want to walk but I want to carry you to the car, or when I have to put you in your car seat and you don't want to.  When I'm carrying you, then I just hold your hands together so that you can't move them.  You don't like it, but I have places to go and I can't have you making me late.  But you still are the sweetest boy.

You know what you want, and are learning how to communicate it.  If I hear, "egh egh egh" from the toy room, I know that you are standing by the shelf pointing at a toy that you want me to lift down for you.  We've been practicing how to say "up".  When you stand by the couch asking me to pull/lift you up I make you say "up" before doing anything.  You say, "Ugh".  When I make you say "please", you smile and squint your eyes together without saying anything.  You like to stand by the open-pantry and point to the snack shelf.  

You don't want to be left out of anything that Matthew and Kayla are doing.  You'd much prefer to be swimming in the pool with them during swimming lessons than being strapped in your stroller watching.  Apple-cinnamon Cheerios only keep you distracted for so long.  As soon as you hear us talk about "up chocolates", the (cheap) chocolate calendar kept on top of the fridge, and "down chocolates", the (Lindor) chocolate calendar kept hanging on the pantry door, you come running to the kitchen, impatiently waiting for your chocolate.  You will not be left out of that morning ritual.  I feed you breakfast before Matthew and Kayla have theirs because if I don't and you eat at the same time, you will refuse to eat your baby cereal because you want what they are having.  They are great siblings for you, usually including you in their play, or at the very least, not pushing you away.  There couldn't have been a better third child to follow a set of twins.  You will make them include you, but they will also want to include you.

You love to wrestle with Matthew and Kayla, and you love trying to push your Dad down when he's sitting on the ground.  You think you know how to jump, but your feet never leave the ground.  You think it's funny when we warn you to "not get dizzy" when you turn around in circles.

You are a big boy for your age, even though you haven't gained much since you turned one.  You now weigh 26 lb 8 oz and are quickly outgrowing your size 12-18 month clothes.  Although you are big, you are clumsy.  You are forever tripping over your own feet, which results in a lot of bumps, bruises, and cuts on your forehead.  You took a nasty fall this month and hit your head on the corner of the wall at your Grandma and Grandpa's house.  You had a goose egg immediately on your forehead, along with an inch-long pseudo-cut.  You are lucky that the skin didn't break through on the goose egg, although it looked like it had...it was just so close to the surface.  You screamed and refused to let me put ice on it, until we put a live wire (candy) in your hand.  (Candy solves everything in our Struik household).

You still suffer with constipation, and I imagine we will have to deal with that for a while.  You get medicine daily for it, and I'm cutting out one of your twice-daily bottles and replacing it with a sippy cup of diluted juice to see if that helps.  You are being left with only your before-bed bottle of 8oz of milk.

(This is the position you sit in when you are trying to poop).

You nap once or twice a day, depending on how the day goes.  If we are out-and-about, then you only have one nap that day, usually starting between 12pm to 1pm.  You seldom sleep for more than an hour and a half.  Because most of the time you only have one nap a day, you are ready for your bottle and bed again between 7pm and 7:30pm, and will (usually) sleep through the night until 7am.  When I come to get you in the morning you stand up in your crib, and pass me your soother so that I can put it in my pocket.  You know that's where it belongs.

You are a great eater, for the most part.  You love to feed yourself, but are also very good at being fed.  You love fruit.  You love (canned) corn.  I haven't found a food that you don't like...you even tolerate really spicy Indian food when your siblings cannot.  You are not great at drinking your milk at a meal time, but I also haven't enforced the rule where you have to finish your milk before you can leave the table.  That will come though, once your evening bottle is dropped.

You didn't like it when I had to start working again, crying when I left you.  You've gotten over it, and now only cry if I leave you for non-work purposes.  You still do not like the nursery at church.  I haven't sat through an entire service since the middle of the summer...but you actually allowed me to this past Sunday because you fell asleep in a volunteer's arms.  I love that you are so attached to me.  It at least shows me that you love me, even if you do like to hit me :).

Nathan, my little frozen-embryo baby, you are a blessing to our family.  I couldn't imagine our family without you, and I look forward to discovering more of your personality as you grow up.  Just don't grow up too quickly...I don't mind if you stay my 'baby' forever...